Device for dispensing sandwiches and the like



\ 1953 w. s. TANDLER ETAL 2,637,611

DEVICE FOR DISPENSING SANDWICHES AND THE LIKE Filed June 2, 1951 V 3 Sheets-Sheet l FIGJ.

INVENTORS. WILLIAM S. TANDLER DAVID S. WALKER THEIR ATTORNEYS.

May 5, 1953 w. s. TANDLER ETAL 7,

' DEVICE FOR DISPENSING SANDWICHES AND THE LIKE Filed June 2, 1951 s' sneets-shevz WILLIAM s. TANDLER DAVID s. WALKER y 5, 1953 w. s. TANDLER ET AL 2,637,611

DEVICE FOR DISPENSING SANDWICHES AND THE LIKE Filed June 2, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 THEIR ATTORNEYS. I

Patented May 5, 1953 DEVICE FOR DISPENSING SANDWICHES AND THE LIKE William S. Tandler and David S. Walker, New

York, N. Y., assignors toVendomatic Machine Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application June 2, 1951, Serial No. 229,608

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in vending and dispensing devices and it relates more particularly to systems for sequentially or cyclically actuating'a dispensing device so that rows of articles supported in the device can be discharged one by one from several supports in the device in a. predetermined sequence.

As disclosed in the Tandler et a1. Patent No. 2,531,238, dated November 21, 1950, a system has been provided heretofore wherein rows of articles supported on trays can be discharged one by one until one of the trays is emptied and thereafter the articles from another tray can be discharged one by one, the discharging means being actuated in a predetermined sequenceto empty the trays one after another.

The present invention constitutes a simplificationand improvement of the system disclosed in the aforesaid patent whereby the same type of sequential operation can be obtained with many fewer parts and at considerably less cost.

- In accordance with the present invention, a typical dispensing device may include a series of supports mounted in a housing, each of the supports being adapted to receive a plurality of articles to be dispensed. The articles are advanced along the supports by means of bead chains which are carried by pulleys at opposite ends of the supports. The pulleys at one end of the support may be carried by a main drive shaft and clutch elements are interposed between the shaft and the pulleys so that the pulleys may be selectively coupled to the drive shaft to be rotated thereby.

To enable the supports to be emptied in sucsession, we have provided a trigger-controlled.

mechanism by means of which the unloading or emptyingof one of the trays will release aclutch actuating mechanism of van adjacent or difierent support to thereby couple the pulley of the adjacent or other support to the drive shaft so that the articles thereon may also be discharged one by one until that support is emptied. Each of the supports is provided with a similar trigger mechanism so that the supports will be emptied in sequence until all are emptied.

The trigger mechanism is constructed and arranged sothat the power required for operating it is supplied by suitable biasing means so that little effort is required to trigger it and cause the clutch elements to engage. As a consequence,.wear and deterioration of the mechanism are reduced to a minimum and little servicing of the dispensing deviceand long life are assured. J Fora better. understanding of the present invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a'view in vertical section-through a; typical dispensing device embodying the present invention The form of the invention chosen for purposes of illustration is asimplified mechanism in which only four supporting elements for articles to be dispensed are disclosed.

Referring now to Fig. 1, the dispensing device may'include a casing l0 formed of any suitable material and having a glass front panel. it through which the interior of the casing may be viewed. Mounted within the casing are a plurality of article supports l2, l3, l4 and I5 which are mounted. on cross bars or braces l5 and I1 extending across thehousing Ill. The articles carried by'the supports l2 to' I5 aredischarged through a suitable chute iii to a receiving chamber '19 from which the articles may be removed by the purchaser or to a cooking device or the like; as may be required.

As shown in Fig. 2, the supports l2, l3, M and [.5 are essentially alike so that onlyone of them will be described herein- The support 12 con-. sists of a channel shaped member Zilhaving upstanding side flanges 2] and 22 along its longi-v tudinal edges. open. At the rear end of the members l2 to [5 is a transversely extending shaft 23 which extends through the flanges 2i and 22 and serves as a supportfor a pair of idlersprockets 24 and .25 over which are passed thezbeadchains 26 and 21. The idler sprockets 24 and .25 are mounted respectively on stub shafts 28 and 29 which extend inwardly from the spaced apart plates 30 and 3.! carried by the shaft 23. The sprockets. 24 and 25 and their supports extend into notches 32 and 33 in the rear end of the channel member 20 and arenormally biased away from the channel memher by means of coil springs 34 and 35 wound around the shaft 23 to exert a tension on the bear. chains 26 and 21.

The front ends of the-chains arereceived in Bothends of the member 20 .are'

notched grooves 38 and 39 in a spool-like pulley 40 which is rotatably mounted on and axially movable with respect to a main drive shaft 4| which extends transversely of the supports |2 to adjacent their front ends. The shaft 4| is driven in a direction to advance the upper flights of the chains toward the pulley 40 by means of the motor 42 which is connected to one end of the shaft 4 The motor 42 may be started in response to the insertion of a coin in the dispensing device and the actuation of a selector button and stopped by discharge of an article from the support as described in the Tandler et a1. Patent No. 2,531,238.

The right hand end of the spool member 40 is provided with clutch teeth 40a which-may be engaged with or disengaged from' the clutch teeth 43a on a clutch collar 43 which is fixed to the shaft 4|. Thus, when the spool pulley 40 is moved to the right'to engage: the clutch. collar 43, the spool pulley is coupled-to the shaft 4| and will rotate with it. When the spool pulley 48 is shifted to the left, it is disengaged from the shaft 4| and remains stationary. Each of the supports l3, l4 and 5 is provided with a corresponding spool pulley 44, 45 and 46 and corresponding clutch elements 41, 48 and 49. v The several clutch elements are arranged to be actuated in succession to couple the spools 48, 44, 45 and 46 in succession to the shaft 4|. The mechanism for accomplishing this action is shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawing. This mechanism'consists of a plurality of triggering mechanisms corresponding to the supports 2 to I5. The triggering mechanisms are mounted on a plate 50 secured to the underside of and connecting the several supports I2 to l5 to produce a unitary construction.v The shaft 4| is rotatably mounted in end flanges 50a and 5% on the plate 58. The plate 50 has upwardly and outwardly bent flanges 5| and 52 which extend along its length and abut against the undersurfaces of the supports l2 to l5.

The mechanism for controlling the clutch elements 40 and 43 for the support I2 includes a lever 53 supported at its inner end on a pivot pin 54 extending upwardly from the plate 58. The lever has a forwardly extending end portion provided with a generally vertically extending flange 55' which engages in a groove 56 inthe spool pulley 40 adjacent its left-hand end. Thus, clockwise movement of the lever'53 about its pivot 54'Iwill disengage the spool 40 from the clutch collar 43 and counterclockwise movement of the lever 53 will cause the spool 40 to en age the clutch collar 43. The lever 53 is normally biased in a counterclockwise direction by means of a coil tension spring 56 having one end connected to the lever 53 and the other end connected to an anchor pin 51 extending upwardly from the plate 50.

The lever 53 can be retained in a position such that the spool 48 is disengaged from the clutching. collar 43 by means of a latch or trigger member 58 consisting of a flat bar or strip of metal 59 mounted for pivoting movement in a horizontal plane about a pivot pin 60 secured to the plate 58. The pivot pin 68 engages the member 59 at-about its middle. The right-hand end of the lever or bar member 59 has a notch 6' therein which forms a hook 62 on the end of the lever that engages an offset portion. 63 on the lever 53. When the offset portion 63 is engaged with the inner edge of the hook member, the spool '4 48 is held out of engagement with the clutch collar 43. When the trigger member 59 is rocked counterclockwise, it releases the lever 53 for movement to clutching position to couple the spool 40 to the shaft 4|. The member 59 is normally biased in a clockwise direction by means of a tension spring 64 connected to the bar 59 to the left of the pivot 60 and to an anchor pin 65 fixed to the plate 50. The left-hand end or trigger-portion of the member 59 has an outwardly and upwardly directed extension 68 thereon which underlies a generally T-shaped also hasv a trigger member 58' having a trigger extension "66 'on its left-hand end which is disposed below a T-shaped aperture 61 in the support l4 and a hook portion 62' at its right-hand end.

The support l4 has another latching and clutch actuating mechanism of the same kind provided with a trigger bar, the left-hand end or trigger-' portion 66" of which underlies a T-shaped open ing 6'!" in the support 5.

The clutch actuating and trigger mechanism corresponding to the support I5 includes a springbiased clutch actuating lever 14 like the lever 53' described above, which is engageable by the hook 15 on the right-hand arm of a bell crank 16 which corresponds generally to the trigger bar 59. The bell crank 16 is supported at its midportion by means of a pivot pin 11 extending upwardly from the plate 50. The rearwardly extending arm 18 of the bell crank 16 is connected by means of a transverse link 19 to rearwardly extending arm 89 of another bell crank 8| which is disposed be-' low the support I 2. The bell crank 8| is sup ported by a pivot pin 82 extending upwardly from the plate and has an arm 83 extending to the left so that:the extension 84 thereon underlies a T-shaped aperture 85 in the support I2. The bell cranks 16 and 8| are normally biased in a clockwise direction by means of the spring 86 con-' nected to the arm 83 and the pin 51. It will be apparent that if the bell crank 8| is rocked counterclockwise from' the position shown, it will cause the counterclockwise movement of the bell crank 76 and disengagement of the hook 15 from the clutch actuating lever 14 to allow the spool 46 to be coupled to the shaft 4| through the medium'of the clutch collar 49. Assuming that only the spool 40 is coupled to the shaft 4| as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, only the bead chains 26 and'2l on the support |2 will be moved. The head chains of each of the supports l2 to |5 are used to advance a pusher member 90 shown in Fig. 5 which has a base plate 9| adapted to extend substantially parallel with the support l2 to I5, arearwardly inclined, upwardly extending, front flange 92'adapted to engage the rearmost article on the support and a downwardly extending front flange 93 which engages between the beads on the chains and thereby releasably couples the pusher mem-.

flanges 93, 94 and 95 so that the base plate 9| is tilted forwardly by engagement of the T-shaped lug 96 with the bottom of the support.

As the pusher member 99 is advanced along the support l2, for example, the articles are discharged one by one until the last article on the support is discharged. At about this time, the lug 96 drops into the T-shaped opening 85 in the support I2 and as the pusher 90 continues to advance it will strike the trigger extension 84 on the end of the bell crank 8| and rock it in a counterclockwise direction, thereby rocking the bell crank 16 and releasing the clutch shifting lever 14 corresponding to the support I5 and shifting the spool 46 into engagement with the clutch collar 49 thereby coupling the spool 46 to the shaft 4|. The pusher member 90 on the support l2 will continue to move forward until the flange 93 is disposed in front of the spool 40. This disengages the pusher 90 from the chains so that only a light frictional drag is exerted by the pusher on the chains 26 and 21 of the support l2. The T-shaped lug 96 prevents complete dislodgment of the pusher 90 from the support 12 because the T-head engages the support 12 below the narrow part of the opening 85.

The same action takes place successively to the right with the pusher 90 on the support l5 triggering the trigger extension 66" to connect the spool 45 to the shaft, and the pusher 90 on the support [4 striking the trigger extension 66 to connect the spool 44 to the shaft 4! and so on. If after all of the supports have been emptied, the latching mechanism has not been reset, the mechanism will continue to idle with none of the pushers actually coupled to the shaft 4|.

Inasmuch as the supports are visible from the exterior of the housing I 0, it will be quite evident when the dispensing apparatus is empty. Under ordinary circumstances no empty signal or warning signal need be used to indicate an empty condition of the device but, if desired, such an empty signal may be included.

Inasmuch as the apparatus is susceptible to considerable modification in its details and arrangement. the above-described embodiment of the invention should be considered as illustrative and not as limiting the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A dispensing device comprising a plurality of supports for articles to be dispensed, a power.

driven shaft, a pulley corresponding to each support rotatably and axially movable relative to and mounted on said shaft, a clutch element on each pulley, a cooperating clutch element corresponding to each pulley fixed to said shaft, a

lever pivotally mounted adjacent one end and engaging a pulley at its opposite end to move said pulley axially of said shaft, means biasing said lever in a direction to urge the cooperating clutch elements on said pulley and shaft into engagement, a pivoted latch member adjacent to each lever and having a hook portion engageable with said lever to retain the latter in a position holding the clutch element on its corresponding pulley out of engagement with its cooperating clutch element, an article-advancing member movably mounted on and corresponding to each support, means connecting each articleadvancing member to the pulley corresponding to the support on which the article-advancing member is mounted to advance the latter lengthwise of said support upon rotation of the pulley by said shaft, and a trigger arm connected to the latch corresponding to one of said supports in the path of movement of an article-advancing member on another support and movable thereby as the article advancing member approaches said one end of said another support, to release the latch corresponding to said one of said supports and connect its corresponding pulley to said shaft.

2, A dispensing device comprising a plurality of supports for articles to be dispensed, said supports being positioned side-by-side in a substantially horizontal row, a power driven shaft extending transversely of said supports adjacent to one end of said supports, a pulley corresponding to each support mounted rotatably on said shaft, clutch means for connecting each pulley selectively to and disconnecting it from said shaft, bead chains supported on and driven by said pulleys and extending lengthwise of said supports, each chain having one flight resting on top of a support, pusher members resting on each support and having means releasably engaging the said one flight of each chain to cause the pushers to move lengthwise of their supports in response to movement of the chains by said pulleys, a finger extending downwardly from each pusher member, an opening in each support adjacent to said one end thereof into which said finger drops as the pusher approaches said one end, and means below said support and adjacentto said opening and engageable by said finger to actuate the clutch means of a pulley corresponding to another support and connect the lastmentioned pulley to said shaft.

WILLIAM S. TANDLER. DAVID S. WALKER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,271,359 Zeruneith Jan. 27, 1942 2,531,238 Tandler et al Nov. 21, 1950 2,532,266 Andres Nov. 28, 1950 

